Demonizing Hezbollah; A Déjà Vu Prior To 1982 Invasion of Lebanon

Demonizing Hezbollah; A Déjà Vu Prior To 1982 Invasion of Lebanon

23/09/2010

Between theory and practice, calming down the deteriorating political situation in Lebanon could determine the fate of the country, and even the region.

What had started as a debate on whether false witnesses in the Rafiq Hariri murder case existed or not, whether the Special Tribunal for Lebanon was politicized or not, or even whether Israel was behind the assassination or not, has turned into political wrangling and tense rhetoric.

Worse, March 14 bloc members have taken their speech to a more dangerous sectarian level.

Last week, Lebanon First parliamentary bloc member MP Mohamad Kabbara accused Hezbollah of aiming at “the leader of the Sunnis in Lebanon,” in reference to Hariri.
Before him, Mustaqbal [Future] Movement MP Ammar Houri made similar comments.

Hezbollah retorted by warning against bids to take the country into sectarian strife.

“We will not allow sedition to infiltrate” regardless of the tense rhetoric, Hezbollah MPs have stressed.

According to Houri, “Hariri did not give me or colleague Kabbara any remarks about our recent comments.”

The Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) is expected to issue an indictment over the assassination case of former Prime Minister martyr Rafiq Hariri. However, the date set for issuance remains undisclosed, although expectations have put the date sometime next December.

According to ‘leaks’ to the German magazine ‘Der Spiegel’, the indictment will implicate “undisciplined members of Hezbollah.”

The party’s S.G. Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah also said that Prime Minister Saad Hariri had told him that the STL’s indictment is inclined to accuse Hezbollah members. Hariri’s bloc, or at least part of it, denied this conversation ever took place although Hariri himself did not.

However, Hezbollah stressed it has not taken its final stance with regards to the STL.

“We are waiting for the outcome of Arab – and particularly Saudi – efforts in light of the Lebanese-Syrian-Saudi commitment to seek ways to keep the STL away from politicization and unfair accusations,” Hezbollah’s Deputy S.G. Sheikh Naim Qassem told the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Rai on Thursday.

Qassem added that S.G. Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah will announce the party’s finale stance “after the time limit of Arab efforts expires, and then we will see whether the STL will redirect its investigation in light of the evidence that implicate Israel in the Rafiq Hariri assassination, which Sayyed Nasrallah has presented.”

The end of September could mark the end of the time limit, according to opposition sources.

Hezbollah maintains that it will regard the STL as politicized as long as it rules out Israel’s involvement in the Hariri murder, and as long as the false witnesses who diverted the course of the international investigation are not tried.

In a recent interview with the Saudi Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper, Hariri acknowledged the existence of false witnesses, after years of denial by his March 14 bloc. He also acknowledged that accusing Syria of assassinating his father was a mistake.

DEMONIZING HEZBOLLAH, A DÉJÀ VU PRIOR TO 1982 INVASION

Demonizing Hezbollah in Lebanon and the world is a prerequisite to achieve a number of objectives within the framework of the US-Israeli scheme being planned for the region.

Hezbollah constitutes an example of resistance revered by all resistance movements in the region and criminalizing it would gradually dismantle, or at least weaken, other resistance movements in occupied Palestine, Iraq, and elsewhere.
With its arsenal of defensive weapons a few meters away from “Israel,” Hezbollah constitutes a crucial element preventing – so far – the Zionist entity from striking Lebanon, Iran, and maybe Syria. Disarming Hezbollah has been a demand by Israel and the US and was internationally endorsed through UNSCR 1559.

In 1982, Israel invaded Lebanon under the pretext of crushing the Palestinian resistance, mainly operating in south Lebanon and Beirut. Some in the southern community welcomed the Israeli forces with rice and flowers. Israel had relentlessly worked on paving the ground for its invasion; its tool was its network of collaborators.

Prior to the invasion, dozens of clashes, skirmishes, and scuffles took place in south Lebanon between the Palestinian Liberation Organization and active forces in the southern community; some were pro-Palestinian. The PLO was eventually deemed an aggressive force to the community harboring it.

The invasion happened and one year later, then President Amine Gemayel signed the humiliating May 17 agreement with Israel, but it was destined to be brought down by national forces in Lebanon.

Despite its failure in 2006, Israel’s strive to crush Hezbollah as a resistance force has not changed; and so is its endeavor to strike another May 17 agreement to isolate Lebanon from, Syria, Iran, and the whole Arab-Israeli struggle.


NEXT INVASION?

Playing on the sectarian chord has proved to be the most effective way to keep a people divided; it’s been tried in Lebanon before, and the 1982 invasion came as civil war was reaching its peak.

The STL today is under Hezbollah’s microscope until it proves it is handling the Hariri assassination case properly, in light of the provided evidence that point to Israel, the persecution of the false witnesses who deluded the investigation for five years, and the upcoming indictment.

“If the indictment echoed the Der Spiegel report, this will mark the beginning of a US-Israeli invasion similar to that of 1982. Every invasion necessitates a proper confrontation.

The objective of the 1982 invasion was the May 17, 1983 agreement and the new invasion, should it happen, aims at a new May 17 agreement which we will categorically refuse.

When Lebanon comes under invasion, the resistance has an obligation to defend the country,” Hezbollah MP Nawaf Moussawi said in a televised interview Wednesday.

Pending the outcome of the tripartite Arab efforts and the indictment, Hezbollah sees no possible settlement to the political deterioration in Lebanon. Calm, amid incitement and sectarian mobilization by some March 14 officials, could only be a temporary solution.

The ultimate solution for Hezbollah is to stop targeting the resistance.

With Israel preparing for worst case scenarios, the US striking multi-billion dollar arms deals with Gulf States, and US-Israeli threats to strike Iran are on the rise, the sectarian rhetoric by some March 14 officials in Lebanon is giving US-Israeli warmongers the strategic advantage, the power and the needed spark to enflame the region.

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